College Students Forge New Residential Wind Power System

For students from Hocking College's alternative energy and vehicular hybrids program spending the quarter on Andros Island in the Bahamas was no spring break.

For students from Hocking College's alternative energy and vehicular hybrids program spending the quarter on the Andros Island in the Bahamas was no spring break. Applying what they have learned about wind, solar thermal, solar PV and micro-hydro power systems, their goal was to make the village of Forfar totally self-sustainable.

After carefully studying local energy consumption patterns for the past three years, Hocking students assembled a wind turbine that functioned by delivering clean electricity and powering the village's solar hot water heating system. The experiment resulted in the creation of Skystream 3.7 - a residential wind power generator that plugs directly into a home to supplement grid-based power.

Here is how it works. When the wind is blowing, the Skystrem takes the pressure off the grid to help supply the household with sufficient power. When it's not, a home is seamlessly powered by a local utility as usual. However, during periods of strong winds, Skystream can actually produce excess electricity, feeding power back to the grid.

To learn more about Skystream 3.7, its power output and other specifications, go here.